Forget Me Not
by MsMandaK
Summary: Naruto has forgotten his past, a past riddled with painful times as well as wonderful memories. He has a family that's not related. He has friends that didn't always care about him. Can a certain man from his past help him remember his past? Does Naruto even want to remember his past? Will it be the same when he does remember or will someone else use the opportunity? AU Shounen-Ai
1. Chapter 1

A silent cool wind blew past the two wooden swings hanging from the tall oak tree, causing them to shift ever so slightly in the light breeze. The setting sun catching on the green grass, the orange and red turning leaves. The trees shivered, the leaves flowing gently to the hard ground. A yellow and orange light illuminating from the cloudy evening sky. The old cold chain fence surrounding three-fourths of the hilltop, the long shadows on the ground of forgotten toys left by the children who still come here. Grass longer in patches, bare spots with nothing except a few weeds and warm soft dirt where children's feet run constantly during the day. Such familiar sights, yet scenes never seen before. That could be enough proof to prove the point of this tale. Even if you forget your own past, it will never forget you.

Did he ever play here as a little boy? Did he grow up here? He knew he had, they had all told him that he had. His cousin told him that he had come there for years, despite the times when the other children wouldn't play with him. He never gave up, he believed they would become his friends. He believed, he had such faith in people. At least that's what his cousin had said, whether that be true or simply an admiration for an older male who idolized him he couldn't tell. Whether he actually idolized him or not was speculation in its self. He couldn't even tell you how close he'd been to this cousin, this only living relative he seemed to have. Supposedly, they had been close, he'd even been like an older brother to him. He looked up to him like a teacher, a boss and a role model. He wanted to follow in his footsteps, but look at him now. What was he? Nothing. Just a shell. An empty shell, forgotten and crumbling on the blank floor of his mind.

His had shot to his face as a sharp stabbing pain shot through his forehead, unbearable but gone almost as quick as it appeared. The lingering numb pain made him want to stop thinking, not that there was much to think about. He had no past, maybe no future. All he could remember was pain. He wasn't even allow to stay on his own, he was too helpless. No, instead he would stay with his cousin. Such a sweet boy he seemed. Well, sweet man really. Technically, his cousin was only a few years younger than him. Following that logic, he himself would be considered a man based on age alone. Yet, he felt like a boy. Empty and without any experience at life. Without any memory. Without a past.

He was here to remember, something small and subtle might do it. Something insignificant to others. That's why he had been brought here, yet still the canvas of his memories remained white. Not blank, but painted over till nothing remains. Nothing there, yet so many possibilities for the future finished picture. At least until the white begins to peel and review the truth beneath. A whole life of painting and creating.

The two walked back to small black car, the man-boy and his cousin. Opening the door, the man-boy caught a glimpse of his reflection in the tinted glass. At least he assumed it was him, he didn't recognize the face. The bright contrasts of colors, clashing with the autumn background. The bright blonde locks, in almost drooping soft spikes arranged about his head, sad if such a thing possible to reflect one's feelings in an object such as hair. Skin tan and rough, warm from the sun except his rosy cheeks being bitten by the wisps of wind. The strange whisker like marks on his cheeks, a birthmark of sorts he'd been told. Something he'd probably had been so familiar with before that he probably disregarded as normal, such foreign and strange features to him now. Bright blue, splotches of wonder and confusion. Pain and fear, the windows to his soul seemed to be a muddled sky. Hopefully it wouldn't rain, he didn't know if he was the type to cry. He sure felt like he was, but still he was scared that he'd never be able to stop once he started. There was nothing worse than this feeling, knowing nothing. Being helpless, useless.

As he rolled down the window, the other man began pulling off. While riding, he might as well organize all the information he had gained thus far in the jumble of a mind.

His name was Naruto Uzamaki. He had recently been in an accident, and he'd lost his mind. Not gone crazy and actually lost his mind, but lost all the information that normally filled his head. He lived on his own in a small apartment on the West end of the town of Konohagakure, as soon as he was ready he would move back in together. He was graduated from Konoha High School and instead of going to school had jumped head first into busy work. He worked as an illustrator, drawing scenery. They said he was amazing, but always wanting to go off in the strangest places to capture the most beautiful and sometimes simplest images. Naruto could find beauty in anything, find the goodness. Naruto was happy-go-lucky, high strung, and energetic. Naruto had faith in everything and everyone. Naruto was friendly, Naruto was head strong, Naruto….

Naruto was gone. Idiot. He could couldn't even remember his self, how stupid he really was after all! Just like they said. Or at least like someone said, he couldn't remember who it was but he was sure someone called him a stupid idiot. Or had they? Well, either way they were right, imaginary as they might be or not.

Naruto glanced over at his driving cousin, _Konohamaru_ Sarutobi. The young man had medium spiky brown hair, almost in a style imitating Naruto's own. His eyes deep dark almost black darting from the rode occasionally over in Naruto's direction, a hopeful gleam showing in the corners of his slightly tilted eyes. A pair of sunglasses across his forehead, holding his hair back from his eyes. The tension thick enough to cut, too much for either of the men.

"Anything, Boss?"

"No." Naruto shook his head as he answered. "Nothing at all, just a cold feeling."

Konohamaru's shoulders slumped back a little, he let out the breath he didn't know he'd been holding. Then gathering his smile, he glanced in Naruto's direction. "It'll come back, Boss. Just give it time. You'll remember everything, just you believe it!"

Strangely, in the back of Naruto's mind he couldn't help but wonder if he really wanted to remember a past he'd so easily forgotten.

They got to Konohamru's apartment shortly after sunset, it was a nice place on the East side and right next to the park. Apparently, Naruto and Konohamaru's late grandfather had been a well off politician who had left the boys a large estate when he'd passed on. Konohamaru had said it was Naruto's dream when he was younger to follow in his grandfather's footsteps. Having admired both so much, Konohamaru had made it his goal as well. However, for some reason Naruto had decided to give up that dream to become an artist while Konohamaru continued to pursue his goals. With enough effort, sometime sooner rather than later he was sure to achieve his dream.

The apartment was surprisingly neat for a single male always working the way Konohamaru does, always being so busy and on the move. Books neatly in piles on the tables with paperwork stacked properly near those. Pens neatly in a row. A white sheet had been neatly tucked on the couch as a makeshift bed, a small cushy looking pillow on one end. Naruto wondered if he was as neat as his cousin, if it was a family trait or not. Konohamaru came out of a room with a thick tan quilt and placed it on the couch.

"Well, it's not much, but for a temporary fix it should be pretty comfortable."

"Thank you, Konohamaru."

Konohamaru frowned a little, "it's weird to hear you call me by my name when you stay over. You used to call me Brat when you spent the night when we were little."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't know."

"It's perfectly fine. Heck, I should be happy you aren't calling me that." Konohamaru shook his head as he spoke, Naruto could see the sorrow in his cousin's eyes at being forgotten. Naruto too the opportunity to change the subject.

"So, your father must be my mother's sister, since we have different last names and all, am I right?"

Konohamaru, taken back by the question, took a moment to reply, "Well, actually… you were adopted by Grandpa Sarutobi. Even so, the three of us were family and we still are a family. I'm going to put some photos out on the table, tomorrow you should go through them and see if they bring back any memories. Goodnight, Naruto."

With that, Naruto's cousin walked to his own bedroom. Naruto took that as a queue to prepare himself for bed.

Later that night Naruto stared up at the blank ceiling, knowing very a little more about himself than he had before. He was a blank canvas, he didn't know his past. He held a pain in his heart that he couldn't explain, whether it was attributed to his not knowing himself or otherwise he didn't quite know. He now knew another fact. That he had no true family left, no blood ties left. To make it worse, he didn't know for his self just how strong his bond with his cousin truly was after all since they weren't actually related.

To Naruto's knowledge he had no family, friends or ambitions. He escaped the wreck with his future assured, but the price was his life. Starring at the endless white, Naruto slipped into the deep cocoon of his empty yet spinning conscious and fell asleep.

"Empty and alone…."

_The young boy stood in the circle, five other boys surrounding him. Naruto noticed how all of them seemed to be slightly older and taller than him. He looked down at the red and blue striped ball that had rolled under his dangling feet. He hopped off of the swing, making the wood creak a bit. He picked up the ball, the boys motioned him to throw the ball back._

_Naruto threw the ball to the nearest boy, the tallest of the five. The dark haired boy sneered as he caught the red and blue sphere, dark eyes gleaming with hatred. He reared his arm back and threw the toy hard back at Naruto, slamming it into the smaller boy's gut and knocking out the breath Naruto didn't know he'd been holding. Naruto coughed and dropped the ball as he hunched over, holding his abdomen where the ball had hit him. _

_ "What's wrong, Fox-Face? Can't catch a ball? Are you that slow and weak, or just plain stupid?" The boy started to laugh and three others of the boys began to laugh at him. The smallest of the other boys frowned and ran over to the blonde on the ground._

_ "Hey, are you okay? That wasn't cool at all, man! You guys are such jerks!"_

_ The dark haired boy's laugh faded and he grimaced before turning his head to spit with disgust at the other boy's show of pity. He walked over to the boy helping Naruto up and shoved him hard by the shoulder, knocking both boys back to the ground. The boy, now on his back, had a look of surprise on his face as the other boys surrounded him and began to beat him. Naruto's eyes grew wide as he slowly tried to crawl away. This always happened when someone tried to help him, always. Naruto felt a hand grab the back of his shirt, pulling the ends of his hair with it._

_ "Don't think we forgot about you, Fox-Face. There's plenty for you too!"_

_ The boys laughed as they left the two thoroughly thrashed boys sprawled out on the ground. Naruto opened his eyes and leaned up, head spinning as he slowly sat up. He saw his would be savior rubbing his back as he sat on the ground. Naruto jumped to his feet despite the nauseas feels from the motion and rushed over to the boy, attempted to pull the boy up to his feet. The boy looked through one glazed eye at the outstretched hand, a look of disgust across his face. The boy punched Naruto's hand away and leaned away._

_ "Don't touch me, Freak. All you ever do is cause trouble, you Fox-Faced Freak."_

_ Naruto didn't want to cry in front of the other boy, so he turned and began to run as the tears cascaded down his whisker stained cheeks. The salty tears burning the scratches, adding salt to the fire. Someday, he'd show them. He wasn't weak, someday he'd be important. Someday, he'd mean something to someone. Maybe not now, but someday…._

The next morning, Naruto woke up to find that Konohamaru had already left, so he spent the morning going through old photos his cousin had left out. Nothing seemed familiar to him so around lunch time he put the photos away. While eating a sandwich for lunch, the phone rang.

"Hey, Cuz. You okay? Find something to eat? "

"Yeah, I'm eating now. I think you need a new couch, yours is lumpy as a rock! Luckily, I was exhausted, I was out like a brick."

"I know! I heard you snoring and mumbling in your sleep! You must have been having some crazy dreams!"

Naruto frowned, a crease appearing across his forehead. Had he actually had any dreams last night? "Actually I didn't dream at all. Maybe I forgot, I seem to be doing that a lot lately…"

"It's all okay, at least no nightmares, right Boss? Well, I've got to get back to work, but your apartment address is written on a paper on the table with some directions if you want to head up there, to check the place out."

"Cool, thanks. I might just do that."

"There should be the cash somewhere in the kitchen if you need. You can pay me back later." Naruto could hear his cousin's grin over the phone. His own grin spread across his face, a familiar feeling. "See you at home, Boss!"

"See you then." With that, Naruto hung up the phone. He went to the kitchen and found a little bit of cash and the paper with his address on it and headed out. It was about time he went home.

A.N: Well, this is my newest attempt at a fanfic. Hopefully it will do okay and you all will like it. Leave me some reviews to see if I should continue on with it or what. I'd love to know if it's too short, or long for a chapter in the opinion of the reader. I tried. Well, till next time!


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I own nothing of the characters or base story they are from in reality. I simply am using them for my fanfiction. Thank you.

Naruto learned something about himself on the way to his apartment, he possessed one of the worst senses of direction. He had to stop and ask for directions twice on the way despite the written directions Konohamaru had left for him.

Naruto smiled to himself, if he kept this up maybe he would get to know what kind of person he really was someday. Someday… He shook his head, feeling a since of déjà vu. The doctors said he might feel a lot of that but what they failed to tell him was how annoying it would actually turn out to be.

Naruto eventually made it to his apartment building. He stood before it for a moment, taking in the sight of the tall seven story building. His place was on the fourth floor, room number 402.

'It's now or never,' he thought to himself and headed inside.

Naruto made it to the room sooner than he had anticipated, but once there he realized he'd forgotten something. He banged his fist on the door and leaned with his head on his hand. He didn't hear the door to the left of his opening slightly.

"Dang it all! I forgot the freaking key! Idiot! " How the heck was he supposed to get in now, what if the key to his memories was inside, just out of his reach because he'd ironically forgotten the literal key?

"About time you realized that, Naruto. There's a spare key in the plant by my door, as cliché and obvious as that may actually be."

Naruto jumped at the smooth masculine voice, shocked at having revealed that his private moment was shared with a stranger. Or maybe only a stranger to him, after all the man did seem to be his neighbor and know where he kept his spare key. Naruto felt his breath catch and turned to look at his neighbor. He didn't know this man, his hopes faded a little.

The man reached down and grabbed the key from the plant. He walked over past Naruto gracefully and put the key in the door. The man turned the key and turned to face Naruto as he opened the door behind him. He held his arms to one side and stepped aside, welcoming Naruto into his apartment. The man was noticeably taller than Naruto which wasn't hard considering the blonde was a bit on the short side. He had dark raven black hair, so dark that there was almost a blue shine to it. The man's eyes were also dark with a slight narrowed edge that slanted upwards at the ends. The man was so pale compared to Naruto's tan skin, making his skin look so much softer comparing to how Naruto's tan skin made it look like it would feel rough. The man seemed to be monochromatic where Naruto was full of colors. They clashed so much looks wise, Naruto couldn't help but think their personalities would do the same. Could they have been friends? Either way, Naruto couldn't help feel the need to draw this man. The man spoke then, knocking Naruto out of his thought bubble.

"Welcome home, Naruto."

"Thanks, …. I don't seem to know your name."

The man's face quickly twitched a little, almost too slight for Naruto to catch. Almost.

"I almost forgot, I'm Sasuke Uchiha. You and I have known each other since we were little. We went to the same schools and graduated the same year actually. "

"So we are friends or something like that?" Naruto felt stupid after he'd asked, of course this man was his friend. He had apparently trusted him knowing where his spare key was located, even hid it in his plant. Sasuke's face twitched again and he smirked slightly.

"Something like that, yeah. It's good to see that you are okay, I thought you'd gotten yourself killed when I first heard about the accident. You shouldn't be so reckless, it's stupid but I guess it should be expected from an idiot like you. You can't even remember who you are, what an idiot." Naruto could feel his temper rising, he felt his eyebrows twitch as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists at his side.

"I'm not an idiot, Sasuke! I just can't remember! And I don't think you and I were friends at all! How could I have actually been friends with a jerk like you?!" With that, Naruto stormed into his apartment and slammed the door in the face of the wide eyed Uchiha.

Maybe he'd over reacted? Or maybe not, Sasuke had called him an idiot and said he was stupid. Then again, hadn't Naruto been doing the same thing for days now? Didn't he think he was an idiot for forgetting? And if the accident was his fault, wasn't it because he was being reckless? Still, Sasuke didn't have to be so blunt and say it out loud! Stupid blunt jerk! Something about the man just set him off like a rocket.

Naruto turned away from the door and looked around his apartment, he realized he and Konohamaru might have less in common than he thought. The place was a mess. Clothes were thrown about the place as well as food wrappers and ramen containers laying on the table.

The floor was a bright, almost yellow wood. The apartment opened from the side to a living room that consisted of a green dotted sofa with a television and a game system incredibly close to that. There was a wooden side table covered with clutter and a blue-green lamp. Behind that, the area became a small open kitchen area. There was a small table with two green and blue wooden chairs. The table was covered with clutter, this being Naruto's "work desk" of sorts. Papers and art supplies scattered across the entire top.

The kitchen also had a small counter space attached to the wall with a small sink in the middle. Above and below the counter, there were sets of cupboards. There was a small oven that had an outdated stove top that still had a kettle sitting on one of the four burners. Thank goodness it was turned off at least, that would have been really reckless. Above that was a white microwave that looked like it had seen way too much use, the buttons were beginning to fade. A doorway was beside the stove and on the other side of that was the small fridge with the small freezer on top. Through the door was the bedroom, which consists solely of a bed, a side table beside the bed and a dresser. There were two doors in the bedroom, one the closet and the other the bathroom door. The bed in the bedroom was a mess, like Naruto had just gotten out of it. The sheets were a bright orange and the comforter a forest green with orange polka dots. The pillows covered by green pillow cases with a pattern of frogs wearing orange hats across them.

Naruto flinched a little, for being such an artistic guy he sure had a bad fashion sense. Well, for furniture at least. As he moved to the closet he found out that it didn't get much better for clothing either. Most of his clothing were unflattering bright colors. Naruto began sorting through his clothes, touching each one and hoping something would bring back some memories. As he got done going through the clothes, he began looking through the rest of the closet. It seemed that he also used the closet as a storage area of sorts, boxes covered the top shelf and bottom of the closet. The place was a dusty mess, except for one flat box at the bottom that had a perfectly clean top. It must have been important since the rest of the closet was slammed pack, where this box had plenty of room above it.

He pulled out the box and opened it. Inside he found an old set of paints, mostly dried up. Maybe they were on of his first sets? Or maybe someone important had given them to him? He ran his hands along them and studied all the little details. Nothing. Frustrated, he put the paints up carefully and placed the box back in the closet.

Naruto's stomach growled loudly. It was just about time to get some dinner, the journey over had made him ravenous. He gathered his thing and headed out the door, making sure to lock it behind himself. He went to place the key back in place in the plant when he saw Sasuke's door. Should he apologize for being rude before? After all, Naruto had been pretty stupid and reckless getting hurt and Sasuke had probably had been worried.

"_It's good to see that you are okay, I thought you'd gotten yourself killed when I first heard about the accident." _Sasuke had been worried no doubt, it was probably just his personality to never admit it.

Finally, Naruto decided when he stood up and knocked on Sasuke's door. He only waited a minute before coming face to face with the fair, dark haired man. Sasuke raised an eyebrow and leaned on the door as he crossed his arms.

"Yes?" Naruto could feel warmth spreading through his cheeks, he could only imagine what the blush looked like on his face.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have blown up like that. I just got overly excited and let my temper get to me. I'm sorry for worrying you before."

"Actually, it's really normal for you to over react. You really are an emotional guy, though I doubt you know that about yourself. You caught me off guard, acting like your old stupid self like that. I expected you to act different, like you didn't know yourself." Before Naruto could debate whether or not to be angry and argue back about being called stupid, he was interrupted by a loud growl.

"You haven't eaten dinner yet have you, idiot? Come on, let me grab my jacket and we can go get some dinner."

That was how Naruto and Sasuke ended up walking toward business area of Konohagakure. They were silent as they walked, strangely Naruto enjoyed their silent walk as he took in the sights of town, letting Sasuke lead him.

_Naruto ran home, the tears blurring his vision. It had happened again. Darn them all. Those boys, so mean just because he was a little different. He ran towards home, yet he avoided going home yet. He didn't want Grandpa Sarutobi to see him like this. He was already going to now he got beat up again, but he didn't want him to see him cry. Not again. _

_Naruto hadn't been doing anything this time, just walking home when he heard the boys walking after him. He had sped up in hopes that they hadn't noticed him yet. Sadly, he heard their footsteps pick up speed behind him. They had definitely seen him, probably had seen his hair from far away and recognized him. He knew he was leading them, the dark haired boy that hated him more than anyone else. _

_When they caught him, they beat him up like usual. This time no one stepped up to try and help him up. There was nothing memorable about this particular sprawl, except the dark gleam in the dark haired boy's eyes. _

_Why did he have to be so mean to Naruto? Why did he hate him so much?_

_Why did Sasuke have to hate Naruto so much? What did he ever do to him?_

Sasuke led Naruto to a Ramen stand. The smells from the stand reached Naruto's nose and his stomach immediately started to respond by growling loudly. Drool started to come down the side of Naruto's mouth. Sasuke turned his head quickly, but Naruto had already seen the pleased look on the other man's face.

"I'm guessing I like ramen? My stomach sure seems to think so at least."

"So does your drool and something like that. The word like _might _be a _slight_ understatement. Like saying an elephant is a decent sized animal or that it is chilly in the Antarctica. "

Naruto found out that like was as much of an understatement as Sasuke had claimed. He didn't simply like ramen, he loved it. The textures, the flavors even the very smell drove him crazy, how on Earth could he forgotten something as wonderful as this?

If he had forgotten this, what other wonderful amazing things had he forgotten about his past?

"You have a goofy grin on your face, you know." Sasuke's voice broke Naruto out of his daydreams of ramen. Naruto looked up from his delicious bowl of heavenly ramen to see Sasuke slowly sipping the broth from his bowl. One of his hands was in front of his face so only his dark eyes were showing. The dark haired man looked so intense, how Naruto wanted to capture that image. His hand twitched.

"So? What if I like my face like this? What of it?" Naruto could see Sasuke's eyebrow twitching.

"Nothing, if you want to look like an idiot go ahead but don't expect me to take you out to ramen anymore."

Naruto's face dropped instantly, his eyes grew large and round. His lower lip protruded into an instance pout. _That puppy pout… Not that puppy pout…_Sasuke shook his head, cleared his thoughts.

"Alright, alright just stop with the pouting already. As if you don't already look pathetic enough."

"Hey, I don't look pathetic!" The two bickered back in forth for an hour, getting only a little real conversation in edge wise. Then the two parted ways and Naruto made his way to Konohamaru's place. This time he only got lost once.

Sasuke made his way silently back to his apartment in the opposite direction, the same way he had taken with his blonde neighbor so many times before only this time alone.

_Come back soon, Naruto. Remember…_

A.N: Here's my chapter two. Hopefully it's pleasant enough. I doubt later chapters will come out this close together but we will see. Between work and homework I don't really know. So I'd like to thank my reviewer so far! Thank you for reading and I hope this chapter didn't disappoint. This chapter I'd like to ask my readers another question. Am I being to directly descriptive or not descriptive enough? I feel like it's bit wordy right now but I'm still laying out the setting's so in the future I don't have to so much. I hope it's not distracting. I'm also trying to keep the characters in character to a point, but it's hard so they may slip. Oh well, that's what happens when you read to many romance books. :-D


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